I'm interested, why did you choose a model where the group itself pays instead of each user paying an sign up or subscription fee? Do you feel it makes a qualitative difference in the groups that do sign up/ the amount of users registered as it's free for them?

we had a problem of people starting meetups that they weren't committed to -- and people would join and have a crappy experience in those meetups. so we learned that when people pay to start a meetup, they're more committed, and members would more likely have a good experience. that business model pays the bills, and 98% of people who use meetup don't pay. (news: we're starting to make it really easy for meetup organizers to charge their members -- and that makes better meetups too.)

This is the case for the meetups I frequent too. A few of them use meetup as advertising. For example, one is a makerspace/hackerspace that has free meetup events but tries to entice attendees into buying a membership. Paid adult dodgeball and kickball leagues pull in members from meetups too, buttering them up throughout the season with free open bar meetups for players (paid for non-players).

There's one "20's Nightlife" meetup where the organizer just pays out of pocket. He refuses any money I try to give him. The original organizer used it to network like crazy and now it's onto its third organizer with over 400 members. The last event had 55 attendees. It's amazing how well the model can work for various people.

With so much of a user's experience happening offline, do you consider yourself a tech company? And how did you deal with this dichotomy when raising money? It seems now if you don't have an MVP, you're considered still in the idea phase, but what if your business's DNA isn't the tech?

But, like we categorize "mobile first" businesses, does it make sense to also have a "tech first" distinction? Like, where is your business going to live or die? In the real world? Or an electronic device? Startups that are the former shouldn't feel pressured to find a tech co-founder or need a prototype to get funded if the problem they're solving is of the offline variety.

sorry if this annoying trite advice, but just focus on what's necessary to help people (the product/service experience). classifications & labels don't matter, funding doesn't matter (unless necessary), tech industry blogs don't matter.... what matters is designing a wonderful experience & bring it to life somehow.

I attended a few Howard Dean meetups in 2004, then didn't go to another one until 2013. The few that I went to last year had a substantial impact on my ability to start a materially different career. Thank you.

our investors know that we're trying to build a company that keeps growing forever -- because people will probably want to meetup in the future -- and if they ever decide that they want out, i'll try to help them sell their stake. we're not looking to sell or go public, we just want to build a sustainable company that builds great product/service for people

most important first step is committing to serving the people & making it easy for them to engage. in our case, meetup 1.0 had a pre-made meetup almost everywhere about almost everything -- and we made it easy to just sign up for it -- no organizer necessary!

For the word "meetup," dictionary.com notes: "popularized by Meetup, name of a website", yet "meetup" has become a generic term, a Xerox, a Kleenex, a Plexiglass.

This seems to indicate immense potential, appeal, and market demand for "meetups," so why isn't Meetup itself, a company that is over 10 years old, a huge market force?

Do you think the real-worldness of it inherently limits growth? (e.g. There are only so many people who live within reasonable proximity and have the time and means to show up to an IRL event.)

Does it hurt the brand that it has kind of a "PTA mom" or "fishing group" image, instead of meetups of business tycoons or tech innovators? I realize successful business/tech Meetups exist, but they seem far outnumbered by the more mundane stuff. The mundane is not unimportant, per se, but doesn't seem to advance Meetup as a thought leader, and doesn't make it a sexy 18-34 destination.

if you were starting Meetup today, what would you do differently?
and in the same vein -- what's one decision you made that in retrospect was critical to your success even though you might not have realized it at the time?

why would i want a next company? i get to work on something that needs doing -- with amazing people. what else do i need from work? as craig newmark has said, "death is my exit strategy."

but i like the second part of your question: there are tons of problems out there for people to tackle. the biggest problem is that the smartest people aren't working on the biggest problems (or are wasting time on reddit). i stole that line from somewhere (not the reddit part).

here's some near term hints, not the wonka factory future...
1. making sure people really hear about a meetup they'd be pissed to not hear about
2. making it crazy easy for people to get help from their meetup communities -- inventing mobile messaging for local groups
3. making it crazy easy for meetup organizers to charge dues so members are invested in its success (community-funded community)
4. making sure people know they can start a meetup -- and people will join

the grip of the screen will only get tighter as the content on the screens get even more compelling & addictive -- and as the screens get more attached to you (wrist).... my hope is that (1) we all decide to sometimes just put the screens away, and (2) we develop relationships, friendships, and rituals (eg. meetups) that are compelling enough to put away the screens

no, i don't [just] mean social networking! i mean how etsy & ebay connects buyers & sellers; how kickstarter connects creators & funders; how airbnb connects renters & people with rooms..... people are powerful when connected, and we've had a powerless people problem

thanks for doing this ama! very cool. my question is when you first pitched meetup to investors, what was at the core of the mission that you felt was most important to communicate so that they "got" what you were trying to build?

It's amazing... Meetup's been around since 2002, yet it still has no direct competitors. No one else is really doing what Meetup does. That's exceptionally rare for any business. Why do you think that is?

this is my favorite question because there's so much to invent to get people to meetup. in 5-10yrs, meetup will magically notify you about meetups you'll want to know about, and meetups will be less awkward & scary, and you'll be delivered by drone to the meetup

every couple months, we invite a few meetup organizers to meetup hq to tell their story to the team... one time, we had the organizer of "women with big feet meetup" and the organizer of "basketball for short women meetup" (i forget the actual names of the meetups)... anyway, they were AMAZING & inspiring. the women with big feet want respect from shoe-sellers who don't carry their size ... and the short women just want to play in a world that doesn't serve them.... like most meetups, it's about RESPECT & PRIDE & PEOPLE FEELING POWERFUL & PEOPLE BEING POWERFUL in a world that's over-corporatized & over-commodified & de-personalized

we always pretty much felt that we're serving a basic human need, and if we try lots of things, we'll probably get it right. and if we fail, we fail. of course, starting & growing a company is hard so it's important to work with people you like, share the stress, and get through hard times.

i admire many many many.... one of them right now is change.org -- not just because they're all do-gooder but because they're really cracking the code on how people can be powerful. and the organization measures "victories"

hi billy! i was walking back from lunch with meetup designer shane zucker, we saw the empty billboard and joked that we should get it. so we basically called the billboard company, got a good deal, and had fun making the billboard